Back on my bullshit

apparently today "something" is "play in dirt"

 

mmmm tastee social commentary

 

Spoiler: carnivorous plants, scientific descriptions leaning body horror

mmmmmmmm tastee xenobiology

 

"it's horny so it can't be important"

 

grumbles at existence
why must shoes be suffering

 

anyway self spa Wednesday is broiling my legs in a scalding bath bc work and my dying no-longer-supportive shoes has given me shin splints Again and I deserve a wormth

 

I am very glad to be leaving this apartment in august, but I do rather like having a lil (big) bush right next to my window
chillin with the window open and rain tip-tapping on leaves is a good vibe

 

the hand sanitizer of the week at register is ethanol-based and it smells like d e a t h

 

not to steal mirrors' thunder or anything but writebrain wants to do fantasy zoology, gimme fr familiars or pokemans and I'll slap some headcanons down

 

Since mirrors did Espurr for me, would you like to take Mismagius?

 

*puts hand up* oooh, ooh, me me me, Serperior please???

 

i see you there

(no, i don't mind, lmao)

do purugly for me!

 

-unlike some stone-assisted evolutions, mismagius actually incorporate the remains of their dusk stone into themselves; fragments of stone can be found in their core, and very rarely the gems making up their 'belt' (or necklace, depending on who you ask) will be more purple-toned than red. this does not seem to affect their emotion-absorbing properties, though these so-called 'dusk variant' mismagius do tend to have more mischievous or aggressive personalities.
-mismagius cries dip in and out of human range of hearing; those with particularly high or low voices are the mismagius that spawned the headache references in their pokedex entries, though the hallucinations are all ghost power.
-while they tend to have learned manners by the time they evolve, many of mismagius' attempts to 'bring happiness' often go astray; they do best with a steady trainer who won't be flustered by their frequent illusions and tricks.
-conversely, if they can be taught to restrain themselves to small, easily-broken illusions, they excel in the sort of small distractions young children love; while they should be supervised in case their cries get to be too much for a young charge-- or their attempts take a turn for the dark-- many mismagius enjoy 'babysitting' like this, and can feed off happiness just as easily as fear.

 

oooo me snakey boi

-their fastidious natures lead many trainers to believe serperior doesn't need to root like many other grass types, but they do enjoy a good tub or yard to dig around in; they just prefer to be cleaned off as soon as they emerge. in the wild this is usually indulged in by min- and cinccino as well as younger snivy-lines that may be hanging around the burrow, but a serperior raised by a trainer may insist on their partner or teammates being the one to do the work.
-wild serperior usually have less vibrant yellow markings; the well-known golden tone has been carefully bred for, especially in fancier contest lines, but these portions of the serperior are less efficient at photosynthesizing and often can't make up for the power differential on their own. there is Discourse in certain circles over whether paler, greener markings mean illness or closer relation to wild-type bloodlines.
-an ailing serperior will have less vibrant coloration overall, but their leaves tend to shift from green directly to brown in these cases; a pale brown may occasionally be mistaken for the duller, green-overlaid markings of a wild-type.
-shiny serperiors are actually iridescent, more visible on the dorsal stripe; they have iridoplasts rather than chloroplasts, and consequently look rather like a peacock begonia. these serperior actually tend to be hardier than their normal-toned compatriots, able to absorb more energy from simply basking.
-despite snivy's prevalence as a starter pokemon, serperior are not recommended for new trainers. while a snivy's trust can be relatively easily gained, serperiors are prone to periodically challenging their partners and testing boundaries, and will often ignore a trainer who doesn't meet their exacting standards. rehoming serperiors is therefore a rather difficult proposition.

 

Peacock Serperior

You're a genius

 

:3c

-while glameow is quite popular in contests and shows, purugly is prized for its sturdiness and confidence-- especially for a normal-type.
-trainers raising both purugly and serperior should monitor their interactions very closely; both species take staring as a challenge, and almost always refuse to back down before things come to blows. (in general, puruglies will attempt to establish themselves as the 'leader' of any given team; in double and rotation battles, some trainers have even noticed them giving conflicting orders to their teammates!)
-a solitary purugly can still make an excellent housepet, especially if given lots of love and attention; they will gladly and loudly make their needs known, and while they have a reputation for grumpiness this can easily be remedied by firm, consistent treatment.
-mixed-species clowders are not recommended unless an outlet for aggression (such as battling) can be provided, especially with gentler cat pokemon such as skitty or kantonian meowth; while they may eventually warm up to each other, puruglies tend to bully weaker pokemon if they get bored or feel disrespected, and their solid stats make them formidable foes for unevolved pokemon.

 

Spoiler: xenogenesis

are ooloi held up explicitly as an example of how inhuman oankali are? yes
do they exclusively use it/its pronouns to further drive that point home? yes
but also, pronoun usage is corrected multiple times and referring to ooloi with gendered pronouns is called out every time as wrong on a level of basic human person decency, and I will gladly take that from sci-fi published in 1987 that's more about an exploration of colonization and social indoctrination than the alien 'conquerors' themselves

 

Spoiler: xenogenesis

ms butler continues banging that anti-colonialist drum and I love it

 

Spoiler: xenogenesis; gender essentialism, on top of the usual xg warnings

 

Spoiler: xenogenesis